


with the ghosts of my friends when they pray

by sickoflosiingsoulmates



Category: Dimension 20 (Web Series)
Genre: Afterlife, Gen, Introspection, Missing Scene, forgot 2 post this before the finale lol, post ep 15
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-31
Updated: 2020-07-31
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:41:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25630726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sickoflosiingsoulmates/pseuds/sickoflosiingsoulmates
Summary: He’s been watching the Rocks, true, but Liam has particularly troubled him. He’s changed so much in the wake of Preston’s death, and Lapin knows that he’s feeling uniquely uprooted, in a way that Lapin is almost too familiar with.[or; lapin, on death, moving on, and feeling less alone]
Relationships: Lapin Cadbury & Liam Wilhelmina Jawbreaker
Comments: 4
Kudos: 23





	with the ghosts of my friends when they pray

**Author's Note:**

> i love lapin so much and seeing him again in ep 15 ruined me thank you brennan & zac
> 
> thank you to sav ( @ grasslandgirl on tumblr & here) for beta reading!
> 
> title from rejoice by julien baker!

When Lapin was young, too young to know better, he bound himself to the Sugar Plum Fairy.

He looks back with a mix of fondness and hatred for his younger self, so naive to think he could possibly best a god - well, not a god, but a close approximation of one. The thing that gets him, every time, is how _confident_ he remembers being, how sure that his plan would work.

He laughs, now. Look at how far that got him: dead, stuck in a sort of purgatory.

Well - not stuck, anymore, it seems. 

He’s looked on as, time and time again, against all odds, the royal family has continued to survive, to get one step closer to defeating the many, many people who have worked to rid Calorum of not just them, but of all Candians. He’s been proud of them, but he finds a particular joy in them killing the Sugar Plum Fairy. _Good riddance,_ he’d thought as he watched her fall, and that’s when he felt the pull.

A strong tug, in the center of his gut, just below where the three wish spheres circle in his chest. The sharp pain lasted only a second, but there was a lingering pull, not painful but ever-present, attempting to move his body elsewhere.

Preston squealed, a quiet, pained thing, and Lapin glanced down at him before turning his gaze back upwards, seeing similar looks of pained confusion on the Rocks women’s faces. They shared a moment of confused silence, until Lazuli spoke up, quietly, as if in disbelief.

“I think we can leave. Move on from this place.”

There was a murmur between the other women, excitement and confusion and apprehension all rolled into one. Lapin watched Rococoa barrell forward into the unknown after just a moment’s consideration, always the reckless adventurer. He watched Sapphria following swiftly behind, watched Jet take one last look at the waking world, an unreadable expression on her face, before hurrying to match pace with Rococoa. He saw Lazuli and Citrina, who languidly perused the library one last time, falling into time together and chatting softly as they moved towards the unknown.

Now, an ache settles deep into his bones as he looks around the room, Preston hugging close to his side. As much as he wants to move on, follow the Rocks women into the true afterlife (if that’s even what they’re chasing - even now, he can’t be sure), he feels like he can’t. Not yet. He has this - desire, deep within himself, to take as much as he can, needing to preserve everything here for the Hungry One. Even without the Hungry One’s influence, he thinks he’d still want to keep the Sugar Plum Fairy’s treasures, though, unable to stomach the thought of everything within her temple being lost forever.

He hates that he still feels connected to her, even after both of their deaths.

He starts weaving his way around the rooms of the mountain, preserving as much as he can with what little time he still has. Preston follows behind him, ever loyal, and though Lapin has put up a front about Preston’s attachment to him since their deaths, he is wont to appreciate it now.

As he reaches the base of the Ice Cream Temple, he senses a presence from the living world. Preston whines, and Lapin sees Liam, wandering around the lair, looking at the dragon’s nest.

Preston is, understandably, thrilled, closer to Liam than he’s been since his death. Lapin looks at him, running circles around Liam’s feet, unbeknownst to him, and Lapin sighs, though without any true apprehension behind it, knowing what he has to do.

The thing is - all of the Rocks sisters have reached out to the land of the living, but never for long, only enough to give a well-crafted sentence, a vision in a mirror, a shadow of a sister. Lapin hasn’t reached out, partly because it didn’t feel like his place, as he was never a true member of the royal family, but mostly because he’s felt like he hasn’t needed to. And honestly, he hasn’t; for the most part, the Rocks have been able to hold themselves together fairly well, with a few notable exceptions that not even the Rocks would’ve been able to stop.

But now - the magic in the Ice Cream Temple is strong, everything the Sugar Plum Fairy had been hoarding released back into the world. And Lapin had always had a stronger connection to her than most Candians, so much so that he feels innately connected to her magic. With the barrier between this - holding space, and the afterlife having been dissolved, he thinks he can break the barrier between the land of the living, too, at least for a short while.

He huffs another sigh, looking at Preston with faux annoyance. “I wouldn’t be trying this if it wasn’t for you,” he says, and Preston squeals, joyful.

Lapin realizes as he says it, though, that it’s not explicitly true. He’s been watching the Rocks, true, but Liam has particularly troubled him. He’s changed so much in the wake of Preston’s death, and Lapin knows that he’s feeling uniquely uprooted, in a way that Lapin is almost too familiar with.

Lapin thinks about himself as a child, willing to do anything to get ahead in the world, but more than that, wanting something to fight for, to believe in. Wanting someone to believe in _him._ He didn’t have anyone to guide him, to tell him that he was messing with dangerous forces that he couldn’t possibly understand the power of.

(Maybe, if he had, he wouldn’t be where he is now. He tries not to think about it.)

He sees Liam, and sees much of himself there, the desire to mean something to the world, no matter what it took. He sees Liam’s evolution from seed guy to war guy, wanting to exact revenge on those who have wronged him. He understands Liam so implicitly, but he worries, worries the way he wished someone would have worried about him. The way someone _should_ have worried about him.

Without hesitation, Lapin reaches through dimensions.

**Author's Note:**

> follow me on tumblr @ sasharchivists


End file.
